The Neandertal Type Site Revisited: Interdisciplinary Investigations of Skeletal Remains from the Neander Valley, Germany
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The Neandertal type site revisited: Interdisciplinary investigations of skeletal remains from the Neander Valley, Germany Ralf W. Schmitz*, David Serre†, Georges Bonani‡, Susanne Feine*, Felix Hillgruber*, Heike Krainitzki§, Svante Pa¨ a¨ bo†, and Fred H. Smithʈ** *Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Institute for Pre- and Protohistory, University of Tu¨bingen, Schloss Hohentu¨bingen, D-72070 Tubingen, Germany; †Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Inselstrasse 22, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany; ‡Institute of Particle Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, 8093 Zu¨rich, Switzerland; §Advanced Professional School for Technical Preparation Assistants, Markstrasse 185, D-44799 Bochum, Germany; and ʈDepartment of Sociology and Anthropology, Loyola University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60626 Communicated by Erik Trinkaus, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, August 2, 2002 (received for review July 3, 2002) The 1856 discovery of the Neandertal type specimen (Neandertal 1) In August 1856, removal of deposits from the Kleine Feld- in western Germany marked the beginning of human paleontology hofer Grotte resulted in recovery of a calotte and 15 postcranial and initiated the longest-standing debate in the discipline: the role bones. Although the detailed events of the discovery of this of Neandertals in human evolutionary history. We report excava- skeleton are not known, the circumstances that led to the tions of cave sediments that were removed from the Feldhofer recovery of the original Neandertal skeleton were chronicled by caves in 1856. These deposits have yielded over 60 human skeletal local teacher and natural historian Johann Carl Fuhlrott (4). fragments, along with a large series of Paleolithic artifacts and Fuhlrott reported that the bones were found about 2 feet below faunal material. Our analysis of this material represents the first the surface, and that the skeleton was originally oriented with the interdisciplinary analysis of Neandertal remains incorporating ge- skull facing the cave opening. Because the clay matrix adhered netic, direct dating, and morphological dimensions simultaneously. tightly to the individual bones, some of them, including the Three of these skeletal fragments fit directly on Neandertal 1, calotte, were recognized only after they had been thrown out whereas several others have distinctively Neandertal features. At of the cave and fell the 20 m to the valley floor. Fortunately, least three individuals are represented in the skeletal sample. according to Fuhlrott, Beckershoff happened to be at the locality Radiocarbon dates for Neandertal 1, from which a mtDNA se- as the bones were initially noticed and told the workers to be on quence was determined in 1997, and a second individual indicate the lookout for other bones. Fuhlrott noted that the bones were an age of Ϸ40,000 yr for both. mtDNA analysis on the same second initially thought to be those of a cave bear, which had been found individual yields a sequence that clusters with other published in other local caves, and that this misidentification was respon- sible for the bones being collected (4). At Pieper’s invitation, Neandertal sequences. Fuhlrott visited the area at the end of August 1856 and identified the remains of Neandertal 1 as human. Only then, perhaps 2 hirteen kilometers east of Du¨sseldorf lies a nondescript weeks after the specimen was found, was he able to record the Tvalley cut through deposits of high-grade Devonian lime- circumstances of the discovery. Fuhlrott also stated that because stone by the Du¨ssel river. Before the 1850s, the valley was the bones were not considered to be of any great importance at defined by walls that rose as high as 50 m above the river and the time of recovery, the workers were not particularly careful extended for slightly less than 1 km in an east–west direction. and collected only the larger easily identifiable bones. Originally known as ‘‘Gesteins’’ or ‘‘Hundsklipp,’’ the valley The Neandertal find, first reported scientifically by Fuhlrott became known by about 1850 as the Neander Valley (Neander- and Schaaffhausen in 1857 (5, 6), was the subject of a detailed tal) in honor of Joachim Neander (1650–1680), a teacher, poet, analysis by Schaaffhausen (7) and became a focal point in the and composer of hymns who often visited the area (1). Descrip- debate about human evolution during the late 19th and 20th tions of this valley from the early 19th century note that centuries (8). However, all of these discussions concern only numerous caves and rock shelters of varying sizes were located aspects of Neandertal 1’s skeletal anatomy and interpretation along both the north and south valley walls (2). One of the thereof, because no archaeological or faunal materials were smaller caves located on the south wall was known as the Kleine reported from the site. Because there were no associated finds, Feldhofer Grotte, so named because of its proximity to the and the cave was destroyed without a scientific geological nearby large farm of Feldhof. This small cave (Ϸ3 m in width by analysis, the site has been considered undatable. Also, because 5 m in length by3minheight) had a very small mouth (less than no careful surveying was done, the exact location of the Kleine 1 m wide), which opened approximately 20 m above the valley Feldhofer Grotte was no longer known by 1900 (1). floor (1, 3). New Excavations in the Neander Valley Before the 1850s, Neandertal limestone was important for local construction, but by mid-decade, the demands of the Although it was generally assumed that the deposits removed from the Feldhofer caves were dumped somewhere in the area, Prussian construction industry reached the Neandertal. In 1854, attempts to discern their location were unsuccessful until 1997. Wilhelm Beckershoff and Friedrich Wilhelm Pieper founded the On the basis of careful archival research, Schmitz and his Actiengesellschaft fu¨r Marmorindustrie Neanderthal to facili- archaeological colleague, Ju¨rgen Thissen, were able to deduce tate local construction projects (1). To supply limestone for these the likely location of these deposits. In 1997, excavations by the projects, Beckershoff and Pieper focused quarrying operations Rheinisches Amt fu¨r Bodendenkmalpflege in Bonn under the on the south wall of the Neander Valley. As the limestone was quarried, the south wall and much of the north wall, as well as the caves located therein, were literally removed. As the Abbreviation: AMS, accelerator mass spectrometry. caves were encountered, the clay deposits in them had to be Data deposition: The sequence reported in this paper has been deposited in the GenBank removed to reduce contamination of the limestone during actual database (accession no. AY149291). quarrying. **To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]. 13342–13347 ͉ PNAS ͉ October 1, 2002 ͉ vol. 99 ͉ no. 20 www.pnas.org͞cgi͞doi͞10.1073͞pnas.192464099 Fig. 1. The NN 34 left zygomaticomaxillary specimen. Scale is in millimeters. Numbers designate centimeters. Fig. 2. The NN 52 inferior mandibular symphysis. Scale as in Fig. 1. direction of Schmitz and Thissen began in this area. These excavations led to the discovery that the base of the south valley 34, Fig. 1), and a right piece of temporal bone (NN 35) fit clearly wall was left intact, and cave sediments were located adjacent to on the Neandertal 1 calotte. The zygomaticomaxillary fragment this remnant. Excavation of these deposits resulted in the exhibits a number of distinctive features and would have been recovery of Paleolithic artifacts, Pleistocene faunal remains, and identified as a Neandertal even without the fit to Neandertal 1. some 24 fragments of human bone from the clay sediments on These features include an oblique zygomaticoalveolar margin, a the valley side of the remnant (9). That these must at least in part markedly enlarged maxillary sinus (even extending into the root represent remains from the Kleine Feldhofer Grotte was con- of the zygomatic arch), a columnar lateral orbital margin, firmed when a small piece of human bone (NN 13) was found to multiple zygomaticofacial foramina, marked muscle attachments fit exactly onto the lateral side of the left lateral femoral condyle for fibers of the temporalis muscle in the anterior temporal fossa, of Neandertal 1 (1). In 2000, additional excavations were con- and a parasagittal orientation of the infraorbital plate. This ducted at this location, and a much larger series of fauna, complex of features is distinctive for Neandertals, although the artifacts, and human skeletal fragments was recovered. Two individual traits are not unique to them (10–14). NN 35 is a cranial fragments from these excavations were found to fit onto posterior mastoid portion of the temporal preserving the pos- the original Neandertal 1 calotte. terior terminus of a large digastric sulcus exteriorly and a Preliminary analysis of the thousands of lithic artifacts recov- well-excavated sulcus for the sigmoid sinus internally. Both of ered from these deposits has shown that two specific Paleolithic these features also are characteristic but not specifically diag- assemblages are represented: Micoquian artifacts typical of the nostic of Neandertals. late Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic artifacts from the The other cranial fragments do not physically connect to, but Gravettian (1, 9). More systematic analysis of the artifacts is represent elements missing from, Neandertal 1. Two fragments underway, but the presence of Gravettian artifacts means that each of sphenoid (NN 19 and 56) and mandible (NN 52 and 61) not all of the human skeletal fragments necessarily represent and a piece of right occipital (NN 40) also exhibit features Neandertals. Study of the faunal remains also is at the incipient indicative of Neandertals. The sphenoid (NN 19) exhibits the ANTHROPOLOGY stage, but the fauna indicates a Late Pleistocene age for the elongated body and sinus typical of Neandertals (15). The deposits. Also, systematic evidence of human modification in the occipital fragment exhibits a distinctive V-shaped sulcus that form of cut marks and impact fractures is evident on many bones.